The Council reached a common understanding with the European Parliament on 30 June 2020 on continuing to support European farmers under the current legal framework until the end of 2022 when the new Common Agricultural Policy will enter into force. The negotiated text was endorsed by the Council's Special Committee on Agriculture later the same day.

"Extending the current rules for two more years and until the new CAP is agreed and enforced, gives much needed predictability and certainty to all farmers across Europe during the COVID-19 crisis. The EU will continue to fund rural development programmes and to grant support to European farmers through direct payments while ensuring a smooth transition to the next CAP period", said Marija Vučković, Minister for Agriculture of Croatia.

The extension will allow for uninterrupted payments to farmers and other beneficiaries. Moreover, within these two years, member states will have time to prepare their strategic plans under the new CAP legislation and to plan for their implementation after approval by the Commission.

The final adoption of the transitional regulation is expected by the end of 2020 as it is closely linked to the multiannual financial framework (MFF) currently under negotiation.

Given the current state of play of the CAP reform discussions in the European Parliament and Council as well as of the ongoing MFF negotiations, it became clear that the legislative procedure would not be concluded in time to apply the new rules and the CAP Strategic Plans as of 1 January 2021. It was therefore necessary to plan for a transitional period. The European Commission proposed in October 2019 an extension of the CAP’s existing legal framework. The presidency obtained a partial mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament on 6 April 2020. As the European Parliament and Council have now informally developed a common understanding on the transition period, only the MFF related issues remain open and between brackets.